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To: Moonman62

Space based optical telescopes are fast becoming obsolete thanks to adaptive optics. Its a good thing really. Maintenance can be done after breakfast and before lunch without the hassle of hoisting someone into orbit.

I know there’s a 36 meter optical array in the works. Given the global economy its hard to say when it will come online. I have read that our first real look at an exoplanet will probably come from a ground based telescope.


8 posted on 07/20/2011 3:43:52 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: cripplecreek
Space based optical telescopes are fast becoming obsolete thanks to adaptive optics. Its a good thing really. Maintenance can be done after breakfast and before lunch without the hassle of hoisting someone into orbit.

And what NASA doesn't want you to know is that they could have launched new replacements for Hubble on unmanned rockets for much cheaper than a servicing mission.

12 posted on 07/20/2011 3:54:46 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: cripplecreek

Optical telescopes, maybe, but you can’t do UV on the ground, and there are a number of IR bands that are difficult on the ground. Unfortunately JWST, if it happens, is IR only.


17 posted on 07/20/2011 8:59:43 PM PDT by MikeD (We live in a world where babies are like velveteen rabbits that only become real if they are loved.)
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